Yes, it’s not the most flattering pic but its the only one tagged thus far that shows a little AKMG love in the background.

Now that I have landed, unpacked and gone through a few of the posted show photos on facebook (where is that untag button again?) I have a few post-show thoughts. Hands down, it was a pleasure meeting you and it was a fabulous show, but undoubtedly right about now we are all wondering, “who’s idea was it to plan the show in the middle of the week?” I don’t know about you, but I found it particularly rough attending work on Friday after four days of talking all day, entertaining all night, and running on 4 hours of sleep.

When I landed in LAX, my feet were tired and my throat was raspy. But (unfortunately for my hubby) not in that sexy Lara Croft way, but rather, that “I’m about to be sick” kinda way. And while I spent all weekend in bed chugging vitamin-c-boosted jamba juice, I am still overall feeling victorious with the show.

Not only did I get to meet many of my publishers for the first time (and had a great time doing so), but I was so kindly introduced to so many new people! I am hopeful I will do business with the new affiliates I met, but even if I don’t it was a pleasure meeting and learning from each of them. I particularly enjoyed my first but certainly not last Prosper 202 meeting, as I found it encouraging to see the camaraderie amongst the group and the swapping of suggestions. It only paves the way forward for affiliate marketing when we help eachother grow and become more consistent for advertisers to turn to.

Now it’s time for the real work to begin, the post-show follow-up and putting all of those big ideas into practice. So as I start organizing my piles of cards and renumbering my to do list, I want to thank you all again for such a kick butt show!

Cheers,

E

I must say our 2009 Adtech SF show was a success! Thank you all who made a stop by our booth, most all of which were awarded with the newest series of our super cool skate deck commissioned by the Canadian pop artist Gary Taxali (www.garytaxali.com). The showroom floor was brimming with the familiar and some new up-and-comings in the affiliate arena as well as new emergences in the mobile marketing space.

As far as the parties went I did miss out on a couple of the major soirees focusing more on client meeting outings with both the established and new As we all know San Francisco is known for its fabulous cuisine. My favorite dinner was hosted at new restaurant in nob hill that came as a recommendations from a friend who lives in the city and knows my taste well. The restaurant was called Gitane (www.gitanerestaurant.com), which can best be described as a fun, funky gypsy tapas bar. We enjoyed a wide array of French, Spanish and Middle Eastern tapas which were quenched with a fabulous white wine sangria over flowing with strawberries and cucumbers. Oh, what a delight!

A common topic of conversation this show was the intense heat wave that blew through SF that week. This came as quite a surprise to me as I packed mostly sweaters due to the temperature in LA remaining in the 50’s and 60’s right up until I woke up Sat morning in San Fran. Many of the parties, restaurants and bars were effected by this as most venues still do not have air conditioning. All those who attended the clift and starlight bars can vouch for this!

I am looking forward to our next show - Affiliate Summit East, held in NYC. I hope to see you all there!

The essence of guerilla marketing is to let your customers market you. Nothing promotes better than a happy customer’s word of mouth. Here are some tips on ways to implement effective online guerilla marketing.

1)Make it easy on them. You don’t want your customers having to have to work or go through a “process” to promote your company for you. Needs top be easy as a click.

2) Give them value. Keep in mind that just because something is valuable does not mean that it has to be expensive. Could be as simple as a funny video that makes you laugh or offering an incentive for referring friends.

3) Be aggressive to make an impact and creative a buzz. Shocking, in-your face, raw and real.

Wow. It’s hard to believe that just three months have gone by since my previous (and first) affiliate marketing show - so much has happened since! To be sure, affiliate marketing years seem to go by in dog years, and I just I can’t belive it is already time for Ad Tech. Meeting you all at Affiliate Summit West was fantastic, and now that I have worked with you all for a quarter, I can’t express how excited I am to get to got to San Francisco and get to know you better!As I was packing this weekend for San Francisco, I reminded myself of pre-show suggestions my peers had passed along. And now, grasshoppers, I share the knowledge with you.1) Sacrifice fashion for comfort at all times. Ladies, why would you wear heals, and fellas, skip the suites (aka sweat stains). The venue is busy, the lights are hot, and the show room is buzzing. Last I checked, perspiration does not equal inspiration. :)2) H20 is your friend. Be sure to pack a spare bottled water or two, and have plenty on hand at all times. I mean, let’s face it. You’re going to stay out far later than originally planned, you will then drink too much coffee to overcompensate for your lack of sleep in the morning, and this is surely a recipe for dehydration. That, coupled with the two long days of jib jabbing sure to come leave for one very soar throat. So do yourself a favor and be sure to always have some water within an arm’s reach.3. Business Cards. Bring em. Don’t be the tool who doesn’t have cards. Trust me. It’s easy enough to order free ones (I know a great Vista Print offer if anyone is looking), and for each card you get from someone, you should jot down a quick note about that particular person so you remember them post show when you are reviewing your piles of business contact booty.4) keep your eye on the prize. Coming from a people person who loves to chat, it is important to stay focused and to keep conversations short and to the point. Maximize your showroom time by making meetings, keeping a mental wish list of your goals in coming. Make meetings with everyone relevant, and be sure all for your conversations keep on point. If you see someone you know but haven’t quite had the gumption to approach just yet, now’s your chance to introduce yourself to him or her. You can capitalize once the formalities are taken care of, but if you don’t then you will have to wait yet another three months to try for round two.5) Mandatory stop by booth #1552 for the best affiliate managers in the biz and quite possibly AKMG’s sickest skate deck yet.See you there!The Blogette!

This is a blog for those who are just getting their feet wet in email marketing, or for those who are simply exploring the realm that is emailing in the affiliate marketing space.  All seasoned emailers have their own strategies (usually on a per data origin, per offer basis), but here we revisit the basic tips to get the best email delivery and penetration.

- Exclamation points are a no-no.  Too much punctuation?!  You should do your best to avoid the overuse of punctuation wherever possible, as this can throw your ‘Spam Score’ over the oblivion side of the fence.
- Don’t overly bombard your data.  If your lists are seeing the same offer, the same domains and IPs (or permutations thereof), your chance of getting blacklisted will get higher every time.  There are many best practices in place in regard to what kind of volume you should stick to per server/per domain/IP ‘assignment’ permutation.  The best way to find out what will work best for you is to talk to some seasoned emailers.  Regardless, you should respect the consumers on the other end of your data - it pays off.
- Don’t use words or phrases like ‘Free’, ‘Offer’, ‘Limited Time’, etc.  These are pre-built into most spam identifying filters as red flags.

As is true with any niche industry, the most valuable source of information to help you get on the fast track to success and large ROI (return-on-investment) is to talk to the professionals!  There are different strategies for different situations.  Chances are, the salty-dog emailer has been right where you are!  Go to trade shows, mingle, visit forums, and enjoy the learning process.

 
Three days ago two US senators introduced legislation to rid unwanted text messages. The name of the proposed law is the m-SPAM Act of 2009 was introduced by Sen. Olympia Snowe (Maine) and Sen. Bill Nelson (Florida). Since the inception of SMS in the early 2000’s, companies have been reaching out to mobile users via text message to promote their products and services. Unlike unwanted email many cell phone users are charged for incoming text messages.

Although everyone can agree that the central idea of prohibiting marketers from sending to a “do not contact” registry is a good idea, the proposed law is suggesting that every number on the Do Not Call registry may also be off limits to SMS senders.

Mobile marketers are concerned about this notion because while some people opt out from receiving calls, many consumers sign up to receive SMS offers like coupons and sales announcements.

I think it would make sense to keep a second registry for opting out of text messages specifically.

While legislations such as these are passed to protect consumers, we in the marketing world need to protect our rights as well. Is essential to stay informed on the trends in laws being passed and be prepared to adapt.

The downfall of the newspaper industry is a tale of market dominance begetting complacency. Just a few decades ago the industry was fat on near 30 percent margins, regional markets were strong and the large industry leaders had the budget to support international desks world wide. Flash forward a few mere decades and the landscape has been entirely shifted. The fundamental business model is no longer profitable, international bureaus are closing and local papers stand no chance.

The irony in this comes from the fact that since subscriptions peaked in the late sixties, the quantity of homes receiving the paper through delivery has sky dived, simultaneously the American population has nearly tripled. Further, people are reading more news then ever, but a collection of factors such as ease of access, time and cost savings and the green movement have all nudged people online. Even though a majority of people still claim to prefer reading the Sunday paper spread out across the kitchen table.

The main problem that the newspaper industry is facing is not that they are not online, it is rather that they were not there first. Politico.com, yahoo!sports and perez hilton are proving that people from all walks of life and from all spectrum’s of the informational prism are still hungry to consume news. The market is there, it thriving and it left newspapers behind.

Their primary sin was taking their strong hold for granted, treating the Internet like a neat side project and allowing the “news business” to evolve without them. That’s why those who are making business work online must not take their geek stature status for granted. The evolution from CPM to CPA advertising is a prime example of the evolution of business online. Companies are seeing the benefits of the CPA model, testing and transitioning over rapidly. And in this economy, how would it make sense not to test into the performance space? Well let’s just say there is now a real reason why the obituaries a printed in the newspaper.

As internet marketers, specifically affiliate marketers, we all know the gravity and importance of using strong, targeted ad copy.  On the email side of things,  we know that using email delivery optimization (EDO) techniques and good  strategy within the email will yeild the best click rates and penetration/open percentages.

I will not be going into ad copy strategies here, rather, I want to discuss the importance of dynamic keyword insertion in the Pay-Per-Click (PPC) spectrum, and  dynamic list data insertion in the email marketing space.

Say you’re setting up a PPC campaign for Joe’s Tractors.  A non-dynamic copy example could be:

Joe’s Tractors Are The Best
Looking For The Best Tractor Available?
Your Search Is Over!
www.JoesTractorSite.com

It has been proven that if you ‘return’ the consumer’s search query to them in your displayed ad copy, you will get a higher click-through rate.  For example, if the consumer searched for ‘Tractors costing less than $1000′, you could absolutely have your ad copy output:

Joe’s Tractors Are The Best
Tractors Costing Less Than $1000!
Your Search Is Over!
www.JoesTractorSite.com

You can clearly see why this would work well.  This strategy is of course subjective, and you need to make sure, without fail, that the site you’re driving traffic to can actually provide the goods or services that you’ve dynamically returned into your ad copy.  Otherwise, all you will generate are high clicks from soon-to-be angry consumers.

How do I do dynamic keyword insertion? Each Pay-Per-Click provider is different, and likewise, each provider uses different variables/tokens to accomplish this.

In the email world, dynamic data insertion is just as important as it is in the pay-per-click (PPC) space.  Here is an example of a dynamically inserted (data in bold) email promoting a foreclosed house (assuming that the data you acquire has multiple fields including first name and zip code):
———-
FROM: info@mySite.com
SUBJECT:  Hey Josh, check out this foreclosed home …
BODY:

Hi Josh,

I was looking for foreclosed homes, and I thought this one would be of interest to you since it’s near your area, <insert city, state>.

If this one doesn’t fit your style, check out these other foreclosed homes in <insert city, state>.

Thanks!
SenderName
———-
The possibilities are endless. Just make sure the data you receive has as much information as possible.

If your emailing platform currently does not have this capability, you should definitely request that it be developed!  This strategy will only benefit your click-through rate (CTR).  A request to all email platform developers:  Add the capability for dynamic list data insertion into from, subject line, and email body!

Questions?  Comments?  Email me!

The Universal Goal : Drive as much organic (also known as natural) traffic to your website.  There are a plethora of ways and means of approaching Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in regard to publishing your content.

It’s quite impossible to touch all SEO tips and strategies in one blog post, so I’ve decided to give a ‘niche’ overview of how to drive solid organic/natural traffic from a well-kept blog, specifically.

Driving tons of organic traffic via a blog simply doesn’t happen overnight.  In fact, it’s  just a piece (albeit a large one) of the big ‘Volume Puzzle’.   While it’s not all that daunting of a task, it does require consistency, great strategy, creativity and a touch of fun!  As your business or website is growing (and to stimulate even further growth and online presence), it is important for you to rank highly for top/high volume industry-specific keywords on search engines.  I’ve included a few helpful tips to help make this happen:

- Use the aforementioned keywords in your blog bodies and in your titles.  For indexing purposes, of course, their appearances in your titles will hold more weight, and relevant title tags will ensure a higher likelihood of showing up higher in the Search Engine Results.  It is, however, quite important to pursue the combination of both, as keyword-rich body text is a huge player in search engine rankings.

- Use good link structuring.  A blog with the URL yourDomain.com/234nn34/040409/ will take away from your efforts, whereas a blog with the URL yourDomain.com/dateHere/my-blog-title-goes-here will benefit your purpose greatly. Such blogging suites as WordPress have this functionality available with “SEO” add-ons (most all are available for free).

- Put wholesome, relevant links in your blog (also known as “Link Building”).  Search Engine ranking algorithms aren’t stupid.  Relevance + Quality Linkage = Better Rankings.  You can find even more tips on quality Link Building here (http://www.dmconfidential.com/blogs/column/Affiliate_Marketing_Tips/527/)

- Update your content frequently.  Search Engines simply aren’t going to rank your blog page highly if it was last updated in 1993.  Sure, you may have great info, but you’ll find yourself buried below the competition that is keeping it more fresh and timely.

As always, remember that search engine providers’ primary goal is to provide the end-consumer with the most relevant information available online.  If you can do this whist combining good SEO strategy, you will rank higher and drive more organic traffic.

Questions? Comments?  Get in touch!
Josh

There is much controversy surrounding Spamhaus, which operates as a UK based volunteer organization that exists as a global email watchdog. The mission statement on their site reads: “Spamhaus tracks the Internet’s Spammers, Spam Gangs and Spam Services, provides dependable realtime anti-spam protection for Internet networks, and works with Law Enforcement to identify and pursue spammers worldwide.”

It is not an argument that the pursuance of ill-will spammers attempting to sway the stock market, scam, infect computers with viruses, and spoofing should absolutely be stopped. Spamhaus has helped to take down such offenders, however the real controversy lies with the ill-will they are causing towards legitimate US based email marketers.

A case study of in-justice:
An Illinois judge ruled that Spamhaus must pay $11,715,000 to an alleged spammer. The ruling came after e360insight sued The Spamhaus Project, alleging that it had suffered massive harm to its business as a direct result of Spamhaus’ decision to list e360 on a ROKSO anti-spam blacklist. e360’s lawyers filed affidavits asking for $11,715,000 for tortious interference, $15,000,000 in punitive damages, and more than $40,000 in legal fees. The judge granted the money for tortious interference but rejected the request for punitive damages and only allowed $2,000 for litigation costs. Spamhaus openly refused to pay the money and also refused to remove the company from their blacklist.

David Linhardt, the owner of e360, said in a message on his website that “this ruling confirms e360insight’s position that Spamhaus.org is a fanatical, vigilante organization that operates in the United States with blatant disregard for U.S. law. In addition, e360insight has proven that Spamhaus routinely exposes their customers and volunteers to extreme legal risk by continuing to engage in illegal blacklisting, defamation, extortion and blackmail in the name of fighting spam. Importantly, this ruling clearly establishes the validity of e360insight?s legitimate business practices as a responsible, opt-in marketer.”

e360 is one of the very few who had the determination to pursue Spamhaus, because I work with hundreds of emailers I know first hand of countless events similar to this that have resulted in huge losses of revenue, making emailing a harder job each day. It is scary to think that an entity that powerful, that holds such influence of US based companies is beyond the law of the US.

What is needed is a collaborative effort amongst emailers, ad networks and ESPs to combine resources to fight the injustices served by the UK anti-spam superforce. As this is clearly a looming time bomb, that cannot be remedied by one company alone.